Age of Conan beta hysteria

Funcom and Eidos have announced that last week's Easter applications for the Age of Conan beta have soared over the 100,000 mark, racing past 50,000 in just 24 hours. It makes it amongst the most successful testing sign-up for any MMO.

And, as you probably know, Eurogamer was in the heart of the action, offering you 100 exclusive places when the beta kicks off sometime this spring. So, those of you who tagged yourself as an entrant from this site and were lucky enough to be plucked from Funcom's tombola-style hat will be emailed and notified, maybe as soon as this week.

However, it won't be a walk in the park, and shouldn't be viewed as simply a free trial of the game. Funcom has a team of 150 people working on the game and wants serious feedback, which was why the sign-up regulations required you to upload specific information about your PC configuration.

"We've been developing this incredible world for years now and today more than 150 people are working hard on achieving the ambitious goals we set out for the game," says Gaute Godager, founder of Funcom and Game Director on Age of Conan. "The team is very excited about the number of gamers who have signed up for the Beta so far, and we can't wait to see them charging into the brutal battlefields of Hyboria!"

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is an MMORPG set in the exotic world of Hyboria, as created by author Robert E. Howard. It will be a brutal and bloody affair, aimed at more mature gamers, who will be able to utilise an action-based and pioneering combat system to brutally slay opponents.

It's due out on PC on 30th October, following sometime in 2008 on Xbox 360.